Hacker Residency: The end

Hi there 😊

My daily articles came to an abrupt halt 10 days ago, and I apologize for that, it wasn't what I had planned!

On Thursday 27th, I decided to change my flights and head home that same day. My dog had serious health problems, and it was becoming really difficult for my girlfriend to handle everything on her own.

So unfortunately, I missed one of the most important moments of the Hacker Residency: the final demos! But everyone there was incredibly understanding, which helped me come to terms with the situation a bit 😊.

On top of that, a lot happened in the first few days after I got back to France, which kept me away from my computer. Sorry for not giving much news 🙇🏻!

This article will be longer than usual: I'd like to do a sort of recap of this month, which was packed with emotions, encounters, new experiences, and discoveries. And rather than writing a long, meandering block of text like I usually do, I've decided to give this article some structure by answering the questions you've been asking me these past few days!

But first, a quick summary of the situation for those who haven't read my previous articles.

TLDR;

I took part in the first edition of the Hacker Residency, a residency for 10 indie hackers held in a villa in Da Nang, Vietnam, throughout November. I'm now going to answer your questions about it.

Was it good?

A bit of an obvious question, but an important one 😄!

Yes, it was more than good. It was quite challenging for me on a personal level: I'd never been away from my girlfriend and my friends for so long, and I'd never left Europe before 😅. But I'm incredibly grateful I got to experience all of this!

If you could do it again, would you?

Yes, without hesitation. I don't know if I'd go off to the other side of the world on my own for a month again 😂, but I absolutely don't regret experiencing the Hacker Residency.

What did it bring you?

I know you're expecting me to say something like: visibility, the opportunity to get a lot of work done, money, professional opportunities… And yes, it's true, the Hacker Residency brought me all of that.

But honestly, that's not what I'll remember most. This month in Da Nang mainly brought me two things:

• I realized I needed to step out of my comfort zone more often. Being on the other side of the world, speaking English, meeting people I didn't know, eating differently, changing my habits, etc.—it was hard. But it was incredibly enriching. I feel like I gave my brain a workout and revived my ability to adapt! I'll need to find ways to do this more often.
• I met some incredible people, on two levels: personal and professional. Everyone—and I mean everyone without exception—was incredibly kind, welcoming, and smart. Add to that the fact that these people understood my line of work, that we could discuss it together and exchange ideas and feedback, and it was just amazing. It boosted my motivation, my inspiration, and I learned an insane amount of things.

From Tiago: Did you feel the need to build every day, since everyone was building?

Yes 😅. Peer pressure works really well haha! It's both a positive and a negative though: it's very easy to get to work, but it's hard to know when to stop.

From Mark: Would you recommend indie hackers to get together and rent out a place like Hacker Residency to lock in for a month or two?

Yes. A month or two might be too long, though: not everyone can do something like that. But if you have the chance to experience it, don't overthink it, just do it.

From Martin: Did your productivity take a hit or a boost?

I love that question, especially because the answer is not straightforward.

What I'm about to say is very personal, and everyone would probably have reacted differently.

I've been working on my own for years. In fact, it's almost all I know how to do 😅. When you work alone, you gradually learn to work on your motivation and discipline—it's like a muscle that gets stronger over time. And today, when I work from home, my productivity is pretty high. I've built my life and habits around my work.

During the Hacker Residency, all my habits were completely shattered! Whether it was my sleep, my meal times, what I do when I wake up, etc. That's normal, it couldn't have been any other way—my environment had drastically changed.

But strangely, I don't think my productivity dropped much! Being surrounded by entrepreneurs, having nothing else to do but work haha, and having traveled to the other side of the world to work on my project—that's still pretty motivating…

I'd say my productivity was fairly high at the beginning, but it gradually declined over the weeks as the pressure started to ease and I wanted to do things other than work.

In short, I don't know if my productivity was higher or lower than usual 😅. What I do know for sure is that I worked a lot.

Minh-Phuc: why do you hate me?

yes

Vincent: What was different from what you expected?

The people. Everyone was very different from the image you might have of them on X. Everyone was nice and welcoming, nobody was taking cold showers at 5am (in fact everyone woke up super late…), everyone was very humble and approachable regardless of their revenue or follower count haha.

Another thing: the complete freedom we had. There were a few scheduled events, but apart from that, we really organized ourselves however we wanted. And that was just incredible for me—I hate following schedules 😅.

Vincent: What would you do differently if you were to organize one?

Good question. Honestly, I wouldn't change much, except for the duration: a month is a bit long for me, and it's very restrictive.

Kevin: How do you guys work together, is it like a round table or just like you share with people you are aligned with?

It was 100% free 😄! We didn't really have a round table, everyone had their own desk. That means the most sociable people are probably the ones who got the most out of this event haha.

Ahsan: Where did you guys eat? was it a in house kitchen? who paid for it?

We all ate at the villa, a caterer delivered 3 meals a day, and everything was 100% free for the participating entrepreneurs. But we often went out to restaurants or ordered different meals from what had been prepared for us haha!

The food was okay, but not varied enough for my taste 😂

Amire: What was the moment that made the residency click for you?

During the first demos. Every Monday evening, the group gathered and everyone presented what they'd worked on during the week, in 2 minutes. And I'll admit that every time, I was blown away 😅. Some people accomplished a phenomenal amount of work in just a few days, others had super innovative and interesting ideas, others had a huge amount of experience and knowledge.

Basically, the residency clicked for me every time I realized I was far from being the smartest person in the room 😬!

Max: What were the top 5 pieces of advice you received there that have been game-changers?

Haha, I mainly have 2 that come to mind!

The first one came from Mohd Danish, whom I met in Da Nang during the residency, and it had a huge impact: "You should do a lifetime launch pass for Black Friday" 😂! I sold 100 of them, at $149 each…

The second one came from several people at the residency, including David. During the residency, I was approached by a big company that wants to acquire Uneed (more info on that soon I hope…), and honestly, without his advice, I would have handled it all wrong. The most important piece of advice he gave me is also the simplest: don't underestimate yourself and your projects.

I can't wait to tell you more about this and explain why this advice may have changed my life 😎.

Conclusion

The Hacker Residency was so incredible that I have only one desire: to organize something similar 👀. Maybe not as big, as long, or as far away haha, but why not something on my own scale, in France. If you're interested, send me a DM!

Of course, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask me on X :)

PS: Quite a few new features are coming to Writizzy, including newsletters and comments 😊.

Thomas